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About halfway between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the coastal town of Paraty (population 45,000) is not the easiest place to get to. It requires a four-hour mountainous drive from either city, a 45-minute helicopter charter, or a sea route to reach the town. This relative isolation has kept tourist swarms and unbridled development at bay, despite the town's obvious charms. Located on Brazil's Costa Verde, with rainforest-covered mountains on one side and the emerald-green waters of Ilha Grande Bay on the other, Paraty (pronounced para-chee by locals) has preserved more than 30 blocks as its historic district, with a grid of pedestrianized cobblestone streets lined with whitewashed 18th- and 19th-century facades, many of which are vestiges of Portugal's colonial past.
boot In the mid-1600s, the town thrived as a port during the gold rush (many of the largest gold mines were in the neighboring inland state of Minas Gerais) and as a base for the slave trade. African slaves not only worked the mines, but built much of the town's early infrastructure, such as roads. When gold exports through Paraty ceased in the early 1700s, the town continued to harvest sugar cane and produce cachaça, the national distilled spirit, before shifting its economic focus to the coffee trade. By the end of the 19th century, Santos, 190 miles to the south, had replaced Paraty as the country's main coffee export port, and the town began to decline. “The town just disappeared off the map,” says Luana Assunção, owner of the Rio-based tour company Freewalker Tours. “It became isolated and impoverished, and many of the houses were abandoned.”
By the 1970s, a new highway and an influx of migrants from the city breathed new life into Paraty. Attracted by the area's affordable rents, many artists, designers and other creative people renovated old mansions and opened a number of galleries, boutiques, cafés and small hotels, turning the long-forgotten town into an attractive holiday destination.
“We were worried that mass tourism would put the future of Paraty's culture and nature at risk, but that hasn't been the case,” says nature photographer Dom João de Orléans e Bragança, who has been visiting Paraty since 1968 and now spends most of the year there. He believes that strict building codes give the town a timeless and unique feel, even now as second-home owners in the area spend more time in Paraty after the pandemic. “There are definitely no high-rises here, no big resorts or hotels.”